The present invention relates to a new pesticide and to a method which effectively controls pests using the new pesticide.
All year round, pests in agriculture cause extensive damage to crop plants, leading to appreciable economic disadvantages to the farmer. Furthermore, pests can also considerably impair the well-being of humans and animals and may be carriers of a wide variety of diseases.
Over the years, the chemical industry has provided a large number of both chemical and biological pesticides. One class of such pesticides is represented by the group of the photoinsecticides. This group of active substances has been described, for example, in xe2x80x9cLight-Activated Pesticidesxe2x80x9d, Heitz J. R., Dowrun K. R., editors, ACS Symposium Series 339, Washington D.C. (1987); Burg J. G., Webb J. D., Knapp F. W., Corten A. H., J. Econ. Entomol. 82: 171-174 (1989); Pimprikon G. D., Fondren J. E., Heitz J. R., Environ. Entomol. 9: 53-58 (1980);. Krasnoff S. B., Sourger A. J., Chapple M., Chock S., Reissig W. H., Environ. Entomol. 23: 738-743 (1994).
EP-A-0390743 discloses that the activity of N-phenylthio urea can be improved if a photosensitizer is simultaneously applied.
DE-A-3518804 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,992 describe water-soluble azaphthalocyanines and phthalocyanine compounds useful in bleaching compositions. WO93/00815 relates to polymer compositions comprising a photosensitizer.
The technical problem on which the present invention is based was to provide a new pesticide which on the one hand possesses good and broad-spectrum effectiveness against pests and which on the other hand harbours little toxicological risk for humans and animals and can be employed without great harm to the environment.
The technical problem set out above is solved by a pesticide which comprises at least one photosensitizer of the tetrapyrrole and/or tetraazapyrrole series as active substance and a biological and/or chemical attractant for pests.
The technical problem is also solved by a pesticide which comprises at least one of said photosensitizers selected from the group consisting of prophycenes and porphyrines.
In the text which follows, the term xe2x80x9cpest controlxe2x80x9d refers to the control of plant and animal organisms which are able to cause damage to man, his useful animals, crop plants and, in general, his economy. The term xe2x80x9cpesticidesxe2x80x9d refers to compositions which are suitable for the control of plant pests (crop or plant protection compositions) and for controlling other kinds of pests or troublesome organisms. The first group, of plant pests, includes, in particular, animal pests such as insects and their larvae. The second group of pests includes, in particular, hygiene pests such as flies, fruit flies, mosquitoes, bugs or fleas which are able to transmit diseases to humans and animals, and pests of stored products, such as cockroaches, beetles or moths.